Dear Editor,
This refers to your article “Mobilising coalition to tackle poverty” (State Times- June 10). It is sarcasm that our country is one of the largest producers of food grains and, still a land with a large population of the malnourished. In reality, the right to food should go beyond restraints such as topography and region. The measurement of poverty is based on incomes or consumption levels, and people are considered poor if their consumption or income levels fall below the ‘poverty line’, which is the minimum level necessary to meet basic needs. There are several obstacles, deficits and threats to health inherent in poverty. It is the poor who are exposed to dangerous environments, who often have stressful, unrewarding and depersonalising work, who lack the necessities and amenities of life and who, because they are not part of the mainstream of society, are isolated from information and support.It is shocking that on average 10 million tones of food grains are wasted, mainly on account of poor storage. The distance between the poorest and those just below the poverty line will depend on where we draw the line. The more serious concern for us is the extent to which the poorest benefit from anti-poverty measures.
Vinod C. Dixit
B-15 Jyotikalash Society, Jodhpur Tekra, S. M. Road, Ahmedabad
